More men are anxious to look slimmer, younger and hipper in their jeans, forcing fashion brands and stores to change to help them do it.

So-called ordinary blokes, once content if their clothes were a loose fit, OK for a pub night and the right size, are presenting new challenges to designers and merchandisers, say companies such as Just Jeans, Country Road, Tommy Hilfiger and Myer.

"They're becoming as demanding as women about the fit, the wash, colour and finish of denim now," said Just Jeans' general manager of merchandise, David Bell, of his average customers.

"The fit is imperative," said Country Road men's wear design and development manager Margaret Goh. "Where we were quite relaxed in our fit before, now more customers have the confidence to wear a more tapered fit, slimmer, closer to the body and more flattering."

Tommy Hilfiger's Australian managing director, Tony Witts, said: "It's happening across the board. Men just don't want to wear your dumb old basics any more."

Men are increasingly fickle about slimmer leg silhouettes, a flattering fit across the backside, lower waistlines to fit the current trend for hipsters, and denim finishes and details more closely aligned with the look of a rock star than a golfer.

"More (men) are working out, feeling good about themselves, so they're more body conscious," said Bell. "And this isn't just a downtown or Chapel Street fashion thing either. It's happening everywhere. Men are finding it's OK now to look good. It's not scary any more."

The propulsion behind blokes' new desire to appear younger and sexier has not been thoroughly researched. But in the US, where analysts predict it will trigger a 10 per cent sales jump in the $US5 billion ($A7.1 billion) men's denim market this year, speculation points to TV shows such as Queer Eye, and the prevalence of young, fit male models photographed for advertisements and men's magazines.

"Men are more knowledgeable of brands and want the hottest and newest," Myer's business manager for men's wear, Andre Reich, said. "We've seen a change in shopping habits with men in their 40s and 50s wanting more youthful looks. They want to stay young and relevant."

According to Reich, Myer buyers have also changed their habits for the neo-bloke, buying merchandise in monthly to keep him inspired, offering combination ideas for new outfits on the store floor, and revamping men's fitting rooms, making them bigger and brighter.

Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported prestigious department stores such as Barneys and Saks in New York and Selfridges in London were introducing more high-fashion, higher-priced jeans to tempt hoards of newly fashion conscious men, and were "rearranging their sales floors to get shopping-averse men to try on jeans before buying".

The more caring approach helped Barneys sell some men's jeans at $US300 ($A430) - and not just to slim-hipped, cashed-up twentysomethings. According to the store's chief men's wear buyer, Lam Nguyan, brands including Seven For All Mankind and Paper Denim & Cloth were successful because they flattered men of different builds. "The slim leg elongates the body," Nguyan said.

It's one of many design tricks and fashion features luring Australia's own ordinary blokes away from the basics in chain stores and classic men's outfitters.

"We have men coming into our stores and saying, 'How can I look better? Help me look better'," said Reich. "The old adage, 'if you look good, you feel good', is more relevant (to men) than ever before."